Getting Tinted Tomorrow - Any Suggestions?

If my understanding is correct, the Wincos is the only ceramic film TW Tinting uses. The other option, Charcool, is regular tint. I believe both Wincos and Charcool are Madico brand films.

Tinting all 10 windows (not including the windshield) with Wincos ceramic was $350. The same job using Charcool was just $160. Tinting the windshield with Wincos cost an additional $150.

 

Yes, the CA vehicle code does not allow tint on the front windows (along with a number of other things such as stickers, things hanging off of the rear view mirror, etc.), but it is pretty normal to see people in SoCal driving around with their front windows tinted. My old Tundra had its windows tinted and I never had any issues. I think if you tint within reason (maybe 5% limo tint might draw too much attention), the police usually won't hassle you. And if you happen to run into an officer who's not as forgiving, take the tint off, and put it back on (if you want). Not that big of a deal. Leo @ TW Tinting said if I get a fix-it ticket, he'd take off the old tint and put it back on for $70. But he also said that very few of his customers ever had to do that.

 

Yeah, technically it's not legal. But if you put 60s or 70s in the Wincos ceramic, those are barely noticeable. They look clear with a slight blue hue. You may not get the benefit of privacy, but they still dramatically reduce UV and IR rays. I highly doubt you'd get cited for using those. BTW, the ceramic films look a lot lighter than the regular films. Go by the shop, check out the sample board, and you'll see what I'm talking about.

 

OK, so here's my PiP with her new "shades".

So we have 20s around the back, 30s up front, and 70 on the windshield. All Wincos ceramics. Total cost $500 out the door. Leo is a super nice guy, and I would definitely recommend his shop to any PriusChatters out there who are considering using TW Tinting.

Just one thing that might be worth mentioning... Leo only hand-cuts his films. I've heard varying opinions about which is better (hand-cut versus machine cut), but as far as I can tell, every cut looks pretty clean to me - maybe not laser precision perfect (if that's even possible), but you'd really have to look extremely hard to find any "imperfections". Leo insists that hand-cut films contour the edges of the windows better (I guess machine cut films leave more of a gap), but since I can't roll down the windows yet I can't confirm or deny that yet.

Still, I'm very pleased so far on how the job came out. It's not too light and not so dark that it's an obvious fix-it ticket waiting to happen. In person the tint doesn't look very dark - the tint looks darker in the pictures. Also visibility seems to be extremely good from the inside looking out (the films were still a little cloudy because they haven't cured all the way yet) and I don't expect any issues seeing at night. Lastly, the reduced heat from the ceramic films is very noticeable - I could barely pick up any heat coming through the windows, and it was a fairly sunny day today.

 

Ha! Good thing I live down here in the sun.

 

Yeah, I don't really know which is better, Llumar CTX or Wincos. But more than likely, your film selection will be limited by the shop you choose. I suppose you can choose a shop based on the films you used, but I decided to go with TW Tinting because they have a excellent reputation and a flawless 5-star Yelp review.

 

Thanks!

Ha!... The benefit of living in sun baked SoCal I suppose. I actually drove past a CHP cruiser on the way home from the shop. He didn't even glance in my direction. Probably too distracted by the number of cars next to me with 5% limos on their fronts. LOL

 

^ lol

 

Thanks for the compliment.

I specifically asked the dealer who I pre-ordered my PiP from to not put on the front plate mount. I'm not sure if that's something they do at port or at the dealership.